


Inheritance

by LaniLemons



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bittybones, Angst and Feels, Edgy Sans, F/M, Freeform, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Original Character(s), Platonic Relationships, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:33:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9244499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaniLemons/pseuds/LaniLemons
Summary: You received a letter a couple of months back that  you are the heir to your great aunt's estate and fortune.All her belongings have been willed to you including her bitty?





	1. A Fresh Start

Clutching the letter to your chest you looked at the large, almost mansion-esqe house before you. It was as beautiful as you remembered it to be; the path before you was made of grey bricks that led up to the main house, the lawn was a lush green and trimmed emaculatly.  
You swallowed thickly, a bit nervous about what lay beyond the front door and adjusted your backpack before grabbing the handle of your rolling suitcase and pulling it behind you as you walked the path.  
The house itself seemed dark now that your aunt had passed, no light could be seen from the inside and though the outside foliage was well taken care of, the house looked like it could use some maintenance and a fresh coat of paint. Carla had been ill for quiet some time before she passed and her death hadn't come as much of a surprise to you; plus the added time of having to wait through all the paper work and legal shenanigans with her will it seemed as if no one had been on the property much since her passing.  
Though you didn't have much family left you didn't expect to be the recipient of your great aunt Carla's entire fortune, let alone her estate. Her will and the letter addressed to you in her very handrighting had been explicitly clear in that everything that was once hers would now belong to you.  
It read "My beloved niece, You are a hard worker and have never asked anything from me besides my companionship. You are the only member of our family that I believe has ever liked me for more than my money and I know that we would have spent more time together had your mother not made you move to the other side of the country all those years ago. Even though it has been many years since we did more than exchange a letter I must confess that I feel you are most deserving of an easier life. Once I am gone everything in my name will be transferred to you and you will be the sole heir of my grand fortune."  
The letter had arrived in your mail about six months ago in a large yellow envelope along with a letter from your great aunt Carla's lawyer informing you of her death and a request for you to visit the office at your next convienece in order to discuss everything you would need to do to have your name on everything you were willed. You cried.  
The funeral had been a week after you received the letter, most of your savings were spent on a plane ticket and a hotel room. You grieved as much as you could before the funeral but silent tears still spilled down your cheeks at the service. Every other face had dry eyes with glares directed at you. The family you did have left were all distant Cousins and they knew of Carla's will. The jealousy was as thick as a swamps water, it had been a long time since you faced so much animosity from your family.  
It had been years since you had spoken to any of them and even then it had trickled down to critizing insults that could be taken as compliments at the surface by anyone less intelligent than you had grown to be at the young age of sixteen. Your great aunt Carla being the only member of your family besides your mother that had ever encouraged you in what you loved. You spent much of your time with her when your parents had to go away for work. You even took up some hobbies she liked such as sewing and knitting in order to do them with her. You honestly saw her as more of a grandmother figure in your life.  
Your mother didn't want you subjected to your families treatment any longer and once she had saved up enough to move away you zipped across the country rodetrip style with all your belongs in your car. You lived happily together and had even graduated from art school before your mother passed away.  
Now at the age of twenty-four you stepped up to the front door of the estate as the heir of copious amounts of money and a first time home owner.  
You stopped before the door taking time to look up at the beautiful architecture before you procured a list from the lawyers letter. The list held all the the items you now owned meticulously written out, such as the house, the acres of land it rested on, a guest house, a nice old car, a boat you knew you wouldn't understand how to drive. The list went on and on holding names of even company's your aunt had owned. Everything you could possibly think of was now in your name even the adoption certificate of her pet.  
You blinked away tears as you folded the paper into your pile of paperwork and pulled the house keys from your pocket to unlock the door.  
The door squeaked open ominously, the foyer was musty but well lit by the many Windows the house had, small particles of dust floated amongst the beams of light that fluttered in from the outside.  
You walked in and closed the door and set your rolling suitcase beside it. A small melancholy smile spread across your face. You wanted to re-explore the house you once knew inside out but felt it may be better to just start dusting. The caretaker would be stopping by later to drop of Carla's pet, which you assumed was a cat. Your aunt Carla had a fluffy white and grey cat named Simon when you were little but you highly doubted it was the same cat. He may have been feisty but he couldn't have still been kicking around being twenty plus years old.  
You huffed putting your backpack and papers down onto a small table by the door that held an ornate vase. Pulling your hair back into a ponytail you walked to the supply cupboard and pulled out a number of supplies that you would work with. You then threw open some windows to help air the place out.  
Some time later after the floors were mopped and the dust was cleared the doorbell rang. You righted yourself dusting imaginary dust from your pants before heading to the door.  
Opening the door showed an elderly smiley man. He was dressed in a white button up shirt with suspenders and grey slacks, his salt and pepper hair combed neatly. In his hands he held a brown box.  
He held the box out toward you. "Hello dear, not sure you remember me but-"  
You smiled and took the box, "Of course I remember you Mr. Baker, It's been so long!" Taking a step back you point into the house, "Would you like to come in for some tea?"  
Mr. Baker waved a wrinkled hand. "Some other time dear, I have some more chores I've got to do about the place."  
"Well alright, Mr. Baker. Come see me soon though okay?"  
He smiled and waved behind him as he walked off, "Bye dear!"  
You sigh as you shut the door. Mr. Baker had worked for your aunt for as long as you could remember. He was the grounds keeper and was the one who was responsible for the amazing front yard and garden the house always had. He was a kind man but always did his best not to bother you or your aunt. Maybe you could remedy that, after all the place may get lonely now that it's just you and a cat.  
Speaking of, what was with the box he handed you? Looking down you realized it had a couple of holes cut into the sides. If it was your aunt's pet, why was it in such a small box? You brought it into the sitting room and sat on the plush couch closest to the coffee table.  
You sat the box on the table and paused, swearing you heard a small squeak. Had your aunt started keeping mice?  
You slowly removed the lid and peered into the box. A look of surprise crossed your face while a look of fear appeared on the creatures' inside of the box.  
You had seen Bittys before, heck they had been around quite a while now. Years ago when they were first being sold you found them quite interesting. Your would visit the adoption centers and bitty- watch for assignments. They were great subjects for practicing anatomy. You would even befriend some of them while you hung around the place.  
You even knew the different types of bittys, the one before you so happened to be an Edgy. Though it looked more like a Cherry at the moment. His face bright red and tear stained.  
He wore clothes that fit him well, a leather jacket with a red shirt underneath and a pair of black pants along with shoes. There was a small leather collar around his boney neck with a shiny gold name tag on it that read 'Beau'. The sight of the collar had you raising an eyebrow.  
He threw his head around the room then turned to you quickly, his panicked face quickly shifting from happy to angry. "WHERE IS SHE! MR. BAKER SAID HE WAS TAKING ME TO MY OWNER, WHERE IS MY MAMA!"


	2. Losing Someone is Never Easy

You reached your hand out to comfort him instinctively and he instantly latched onto you with his teeth. You inhaled sharply but didn't take your finger away from his hold. You had dealt with Edgys before and knew their behavioral patterns. 

Edgys were known for having hard personalities and for biting their owners and breaking their owners belongings. Though they stopped doing those things until they grew to love their owners and then they were the most loving and loyal little skeletons. 

You also had learned that it was common for this behavior to worsen under stressful conditions and it was usually best to just let them get the stress from their system. As an Edgy and a being with just as much of a conscious as any human It must have been an extremely trying time for Beau and you knew it could take quiet some time for him to settle down into a calmer state of mind.

To make matters worse he didn't seem to understand what had truly been going on. Had no one actually told him what happened to your aunt Carla? At the thought your neutral expression darkened with sadness.

Beau had been watching your face and tears welled up in his eyes at the sight of your emotional change. He quickly let your finger go, almost as if touching you burned him and uttered the quietest "sorry...." you had ever heard.  
Your finger tip stung as if you had been pricked by needles and blood immediately sprung up to the surface of your skin, but the wound was no worse than that.

His apology had left you stunned, he was so polite even for having been in such a stressful situation such as being stuffed inside a box. You're sure you yourself would have been much ruder if you were in his place. 

Then a gleam of light from his tag drew your eye to his collar again. Perhaps rather than politeness it was that he had been trained?

It wasn't unheard of for bitty owners to treat their Bittys like any other pet, actually it was pretty common. You had seen a number of Bittys that were kept in animal carriers and were taught commands to keep them from speaking and the like, you'd even seen a few on leashes before.

Your eyebrows furrowed in thought; Carla was always a kind woman and would have treated Bittys as equals just as she always had with monsters once they surfaced, you knew this for a fact. But it was also no secret that in her later years your aunts mind had started to go. Perhaps when or just before she had adopted Beau someone had convinced her they were just like any other pet. If that were the case you would just need to start treating him like a person.

You shook your head both to clear your thoughts and to dismiss the bite.  
"Don't worry about it." You said quietly back as you stuck your finger in your mouth in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

As he wiped at his fat tears you tried to think of a way you could explain the situation to him. You had heard of monsters calling death 'Falling down', maybe it would be the best to just be honest with him.

"Hey, uh, Beau...", you nervously scratch at the back of your hand as you think out your explanation, a bad habit that often left you with red, stinging lines along your skin. 

He looks up to you, tears still threatening to spill out of his eye sockets and in that moment your words died on your tongue.

"Yes Miss, uh..." He blinked in realization that he hadn't met you before.

"I think it's best if we have a talk, Beau. A serious one." You hold out a hand close to him but out of his personal space. "Would it be alright if I held you?"

He looked put off by your question, as if he hadn't thought you would ask him before handling him. He nods his head slowly before climbing into your awaiting palm.

You looked away from his worried expression, doing your best to keep your tears at bay. 

"Carla-"

"You know where my Mama is!?" He shouted with hope, bracing himself against your thumb. 

His eyes practically had stars in them at the thought of your aunt and suddenly your throat felt tight.

"What I have to tell you, Beau, isn't good news...."

His face fell once again, he seemed to curl into himself, his almost bubbly personality that came out with thoughts of Carla dissipating in an instance.

You swallowed thickly before taking in a deep, steadying breath. 

"Carla..... Carla died Beau, s- she fell down."

His face was blank and he slowly fell into a sitting position of your hand. You put your other hand up just in case he were to stumble off your open hand. 

His skull screwed up into a helpless look, red painting its surface as fat tears started rolling down his cheeks. 

"B- but she... she said she was going to the hospital to get better! She.... she said she would come home as soon as she could." 

He looked up to you with a seething expression.

"Why would Mr. Baker lie to me like that then!?" He searched your face for answers.

"He said he was taking me to my owner, the only person I ever considered my owner was Mama Carla!"

You bit your lip as a tear escaped the corner of your eye. 

Your voice was tight as you tried to keep it from breaking, "I, well..... technically I am your owner now."

It was almost as if something had snapped with in his very soul. His eyes glowed a ferocious blood red and his feature became furious. 

His voice was level as he started speaking. "You," a magical bone attack formed in front of his outstretched arm. "You Can't Be My Owner, I Already Have One!"

You flinch and quickly lick your lips before you try to respond. "I- I know this is really bad news but-"

A bone zips past you, scratching into your cheek as it flies by. 

You quickly shut your mouth.

"YOU CAN'T BE MY OWNER! YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE HER! YOU COULD NEVER BE MY MAMA!"

He jumped from your palm which frightened you and you dove to catch him before he could fall to the floor and hurt himself, but as soon as you grabbed for him he disappeared right before your eyes. 

Your knees and elbows hit the cleaned hardwood floor hard. Lifting your head you saw Beau running from the room, his small shoes clicking against the floor.

You wiped at the tears staining your face before rolling over and covering your eyes. That had gone about as well as you expected it to.

You sat up with a hiss and inspected your elbows. They were a little bloody and guessing by how much your salty tears were making your cheek burn you guessed your face wasn't looking much better.

You got up and headed for the closest bathroom that you knew had a first aid kit.

After cleaning you cuts and applying bandaids you decided that it might be best to look for Beau. He may not like you at the moment but it was still your responsibility to look after him and you would feel terrible if he were to get hurt or try to run away, especially in the emotional state you had last seen him in.

You checked the first floor thoroughly before heading to the second floor of the house. From there it didn't take long to find him. You could hear his crying from down the hall and upon following the noise you stood in front of Carla's bedroom. 

It made the most sense for him to be in there and you felt that if you walked in now it wouldn't end well. You decided to wait a bit more before trying to talk with him again.

You returned to Carla's bedroom about thirty minutes later with a small bitty sized bowl and spoon and a bottle of mustard. You had done a quick Google search to find out what Edgys liked to eat and were pleasantly surprised that there was an item on the list that was still in the house after all these months that hadn't expired.

Beau's loud wailing had subsided since the last time you had checked on him so you thought he may be more approachable now. You knocked lightly on the door before cracking it open.

Beau lay in the middle of one of the overly stuffed pillows on Carla's bed.  
He looked exhausted but he was still awake. His face was still very red but he seemed to have run out of tears for the time being. He was staring up at the ceiling but his eye lights flickered to you as the door creaked open, he made no move to get up.

You entered with a tired face and a strained smile.

"I know you probably want to be alone right now, so I won't stay long..."

You lifted the bottle of mustard up to show him. "I brought you a snack, I heard Edgys like mustard so I hope that goes for you too."

You set everything on the bedside table and quickly filled the little bowl with some fresh mustard.

You looked back to Beau before taking a small step toward him.

"I know how you are feeling right now and I know how hard grieving is... I also know that you probably hate me for coming here and it seems like I'm trying to change your whole life.... but I want you to know that I don't plan on hurting you or taking you away from your home and I would never ever take you back to an adoption center! And if... if you want someone to talk to....I'd be happy to listen to anything you have to say about how you're feeling or about... about aunt Carla."

You got up and walked to the door, taking one last moment to look at the poor little skeleton monster.

You turned away about to close the door behind you when his raw voice quietly rang out across the room stopping you in your tracks.

"......You know, you are nothing but a cheap replacement for my Mama."

You froze biting into your bottom lip hard enough to split it, your free hand balled into a fist making your nails dig into your flesh. 

".....I know."

You stepped away, closing the door behind you and sped walked down the hallway.

Tears streamed from your eyes like waterfalls. Words hadn't hurt you this much in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being harsher than I first intended, but I think it turned out okay.
> 
> Again, if you spot any errors please let me know.
> 
> I have lots of ideas for this fic, but if you have suggestions please leave a comment, it might help me pump out chapters faster!~


	3. A Poisoned Mind

The room was dark now, Beau hadn't bothered to turn a light on when he entered. The moon was his silent companion. It had been hours since Beau first came in here to hide out and that girl had come in to speak with him. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea of his Mama being dead. Sure she had been sick for as long as he knew her but she often seemed like she was getting better. 

Now that his head was starting to clear though, it made sense that she was in fact not getting better. The longer Beau had lived with her the more types of medication she would have to take throughout the day. 

Not long before she left for the hospital she had even started to lose wieght. She rarely ate in front of him and he was basically with her twenty- four- seven so he knew it couldn't have been that she just wasn't hungry. Her touch had started to lose warmth too and she was becoming slower with her movements. 

He truly wondered how he hadn't seen any of this before, though perhaps he had and had been tricking himself into believing she was fine.

Beau loved Carla with all his soul. She was a kind human who had never done more than give him light flicks when he disobeyed. 

Frankly he was happy he had ended up in such a great home, back at the adoption center he had heard a plethora of horror stories about Bittys who got terrible owners. Ones who would hurt them or dust them for fun, but the scariest stories were of the humans who adopted a bitty and claimed they loved them as much as a bitty loved them back, only to stop loving them and abandon them.

These bitty's had hard lives and issues with trusting anyone. In more severe cases they could even die from a broken heart.

He knew once he was adopted he would do everything in his power to stay alive and to not make his human hate him, but he wouldn't love them.

That is until he really did get adopted. Carla's soul had always been gentle and he knew she was a kind person the moment he laid his eyes on her. She was a very pretty woman with grey shoulder length hair and a wrinkled face, with bright curious brown eyes. She was wearing pajamas and was sat up in the very bed he lay on now the day they met.

He had been bought for her on her birthday by Mr. Baker himself. He told him once his little box was taken into his car that he hoped he would be great company for a Ms. Carla who lived all on her own now and no one ever bothered to visit.

It had made her sound scary, like people didn't like her. Which didn't actually seem far from the truth, though for all the wrong reasons. Occasionally, very occasionally, members of her family would come visit her. They were all usually dressed in very expensive looking clothing with expensive accessories. 

They called him hideous names and always glared in his direction when they came; though they spoke to Carla as if they were the sweetest living beings on the face of the earth. 

He never trusted any of them, they all seemed so sneaky. Why should this girl make him feel any different?

His grief was replaced by an intense anger. How dare she just come here and say he belongs to her now! She had no right to do that! 

In his anger he teleported to the nearby dresser and shoved a picture frame from its surface. He would never break Carla's belongings. He had only done so once and he was reprimanded with a flick to the forehead and not being able to sleep beside his Mama that night. He hadn't even meant to break that tea cup either.

Surely his Mama would come if she heard him breaking her stuff. He would suffer whatever punishment she would give him just to see her again.

After waiting a few minutes and not hearing anything he broke more. He knocked lamps, knick knacks and even the wall clock onto the ground.

He was out of breath by then and still no sign of her. Not even that other girl had bothered to come punish him. Hadn't he been so naughty? Didn't he deserve to be punished severely?

He was near to tears again and was about to shatter the glass of the picture frame he sat on but paused mid- swing. His fist slowly relaxed as he viewed it.

It was a photo of Carla next to another human. He studied Carla for a moment and his breathing began to calm down. 

She was really gone.

...

He rubbed at his aching skull.

He gave a deep sigh before his breath caught in his throat. That other human from the photo was the girl who was in his home! Though she was clearly much younger in the picture, her hair shorter and done up in pugtails. They looked to be in a forest of some sort, they were on a low hanging branch of a tree. She sat next to Carla in the photo, their arms rapped around one another's waist in a loving way. Both looked truly happy to be with each other, their smiles actually reaching their eyes. 

He was shocked to realize he had known of this girl. Sure they had never met but Carla would talk about her on days when her mind was clear. She was her great neice, "a shy girl with pure intentions", she would always say. He had heard so many stories about the times they had spent together. 

When it had come to other members of her family she could have the sharpest tongue when he was the only one around to hear it. But Carla had never said one nasty thing about her niece in anyway. This train of thought only made his mind wonder why she never came to visit.

Surely knowing someone loved you so incredibly much would make you want to be around them. 

That's how his Mama made him feel.

Like he could survive anything the world could throw his way so long as he had her love and support.

Then he remembered how she too had been crying at the mention of her 'Aunt Carla's death'. 

He suddenly felt like a huge asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More feelings yay!
> 
> This chapter was a bit difficult for me for some reason, but I feel like it was pretty important to future plot.
> 
> As usual if you spot any errors please let me know!~ C:
> 
> Edit: I forgot to mention that school starts up again for me this next week. Updating might be more spotty than before but I will do my best to update once a week still! (I'm a bad person though so we will see how far that goes.... :^))  
> >_


	4. Starting Over

You had sat in silence for far too long now. There wasn't much you could do about getting Beau to like you at the moment so you thought you might as well put some more stuff away. 

The small moving truck that houses the rest of your meagre belongs wouldn't arrive until the next morning. But with your free time between now and then you could put up the stuff you brought with you on the taxi drive from the airport. 

You received your backpack and rolling suitcase from their spot next to the door and took the long and arduous walk up two flights of stairs to get to the third floor of the building. By the time you got there you were out of breath from forcing the heavy case up all the stairs.

Once your breath was caught you stood straight and flicked the hall light switch, taking a look down the familiar hallway. The walls housed framed photos of you and your dear aunt, old drawings and paintings you had created as a child and even some of the pictures you had sent to her in letters.

A fond smile graced your face, even though you despised people having to look at your hideous old art work you were happy that aunt Carla had always shown you support. The hallway was almost her equivalent to putting your art up onto the fridge at your house when you were little. 

You walked down the hall to the room that was deemed yours when you were able to spend summers with her or nights when your mom worked too late.

The outside of the door had a large poster that featured a band you liked between middle school and high school. It was surrounded by numerous stickers and some blurry pictures you had taken on school and family trips. You cringed internally, the room itself probably would be just as bad. 

Swinging the door open and turning on the light you found the room to be rather dusty. Most likely your aunt Carla hadn't messed with any of your belongings since you had last been over. 

You smiled and placed your suitcase and backpack on the floor. Taking a good look around at your passed memories. There were more posters littering the walls, along with pictures painted onto the actual outdated wall paper. Seriously, who used wall paper anymore? Two bookcases over filling with books and loose papers, a desk with a desk lamp, old art supplies, a dinosaur of a computer and a phone that actually had a cord were pressed against the wall the was across from your old bed. 

You sat in your old desk chair and twirled the phonecord around your finger with a giggle. So much of your life had taken place in this house.

Your eyes landed on a sketchbook that you had thought you lost years ago. You grabbed for it with glee and flung it open. 

Poorly drawn anime, ah, the good old days.

Flicking through the pages you were a little happy that you had forgotten the book there and set it back down after running into a page that had a disaster of a drawing of two people kissing.

People always say the artist judges themselves the hardest, but in this case you think you're right in your accusations.

Your rolled your chair across the floor with yourself in it and unzip your bag. You grab a fist full of clothing and then wheel your way to your old dresser to begin the process of putting things away.

By the time you were done roughly another forty five minutes had passed. Besides realizing your room is in major need of getting a make over from top to bottom you didn't run into any other issues. 

Your stomach rumbles and you decide you could use some grub. 

You go to stand and throw yourself back into the chair before you can even manage standing up all the way. There wasn't any food in the house, right....

You rub at your face. You didn't have a car and there was no way you were walking to the store this late at night, especially with the distance the property you were staying on was from an actual town. 

Your old bike should be somewhere around the property, most likely in one of the storage sheds. Mr. Baker usually put it there when he noticed it forgotten during his working hours. It might be in awful condition by now though.

You start picking at your hands again.

Then it suddenly hits you that you aren't a struggling college student or a starving artist anymore.

You had money, a lot of it. What were you going to do with yourself now that you didn't even HAVE to work for most likely the rest of your life.

...

First thing first using your old phone, for nostalgia purposes, you had ordered a pizza with your favorite toppings and one with just pepperoni. 

You figured if Beau did ever leave Carla's bedroom he might want some too and you didn't know his preferences yet.

Now you were sat on the couch with your eyes closed, munching on a slice of pizza as you listened to music with a nice beat from your old portable radio.

Your head swayed as you chewed away. This was the most time you had had to spend relaxing in a long while. 

You froze when you heard the light pitter patter of tiny feet hitting the hardwood floor.

Looking around you spotted Beau leaning into the room curiously from a doorway.

You gave him a tiny smile and quietly asked, "Would you like some pizza, Beau?"

He looked a little taken aback like he thought you might be angry but his face quickly formed back into a straight one as he nodded his head.

He had suddenly teleported on top of the coffee table where the pizzas were placed. It still startled you, but you brushed it off much quicker this time.

You grabbed the other ornate plate you had pulled from a cupboard in case he came down and set it by him.

You opened the boxes and gestured inside, "which kind would you like? Or do you want some of both?"

He looked at both and without talking pointed to your pizza. A shared taste, you might get along better than you originally thought.

You pulled out an entire slice, though a smaller one, and placed it on to his plate. 

He was practically salivating. He climbed over the lip of the plate and took a big sniff of the slice. 

You were about to ask him if he wanted you to cut it into smaller pieces but before you got the chance he just about face planted into the slice. He ate quickly and you thought maybe he was about as hungry as you had been. Long days always make a person hungry after all. 

You took another bite of your pizza, a small smile to your face and then nearly CHOKED as Beau looked up at you. 

His face was red and not the usual red flush that would appear on the face of an Edgy. No, a saucy red face was gazing up at you. His little eye lights were blown wide into tiny hearts and you couldn't help but laugh.

He didn't even seem embarrassed by his display. He lifted the edge of the slice with little effort and took another bite before saying the first thing you had heard from him in hours.

"This Stuff's Amazin'!"

after getting over your supressed giggle fit you lift an eyebrow at him, "Your acting like you've never had it before."

"I haven't." He replied matter of factly.

It was your turn to look shocked.

"You've never had pizza before???"

Beau shook his head, "Nah, back when I lived at the shelter we had t' eat healthy stuff." He sticks his tongue out at the thought of vegetables.

"And well, Mama never ate this before," he gestured to the pizza. "She was on some sort of strict diet because of her illness."

You set your plate down, more interested in the conversation rather than the food at that moment.

"What did you usually eat then?" You asked and carefully wiped at his mouth with a napkin.

He shrugged his little shoulders and answered after he swallowed his next bite. "Mustard mostly, sometimes she would give me a little bit of jellow or mashed potatoes from her dinners, but that was more like a treat I guess."

It seemed like your aunt Carla really didn't know much about taking care of Bittys after all. Getting the chance to actually look him over now too you could see that he wasn't the healthy chubby most sans Bittys are. Which is an odd thought as they didn't have flesh? But, eh, whatever. You had learned to roll with the simple answer of 'Magic' when you didn't understand something about Bittys anyway.

You scratched at your hands again.

"Well..." you started slowly, a friendly smile pointed towards him. 

It had caught his attention and he chewed slower.

"From now on you can try a bunch of different foods, okay?"

He have a tiny smile. "...Really?"

You shook your head yes rapidly. "Of course! In fact, we can do lots of stuff together! We can eat, do hobbies, go on walks, travel, we can do all sorts of new things!"

Beau looked baffled but genuinely happy at your outburst, a toothy grin on his skull.

You smiled brightly before remembering you hadn't properly introduced yourself to him before. "Hey, uh... I know your name because of that," You pointed to the little bone shaped tag at his neck. "But I don't think I introduced myself to you earlier...."

He shook his skull back and forth in a quick no. "No, you didn't."

You point finger at yourself, "my name is (y_n ), but feel free to give me a nickname if you want! I hope to get to know you better."

He nodded with a small smile on his face before repeating your name back to you. "Same here."

You were almost glowing with happiness by then.

Your heart was practically leaping at the prospect of getting a new friend. You had been quiet lonely since your mother had passed away and thought you would be even more so now that your aunt was gone. 

But now, you were DETERMINED to become good friends with Beau!

Later that night you had promptly fallen into a deep food induced coma on the couch. 

Beau nervously watched you as you let out small snores. He thought it might be better to just let you sleep where you were.

It was a slow climb back up the stairs to Carla's room but Beau was to tired to teleport that far. So after painstakingly climbing the stairs he teleported right back onto the pillow he had been on for nearly the rest of the day.

Sleep didn't come easy for him since Carla had left for the doctors and it still took him long periods of time to fall asleep. Once sleep did take him away he wasn't even able to have pleasant dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like this story might actually be going somewhere now lmao
> 
> I'm going to try and post chapters every Thursday now that school is back for me. Though the update schedule might get a little wacky around exams.
> 
> As usual please inform me of any mistakes in the writting, I probably missed a lot and it would help a bunch! ^^'
> 
> Edit: I always felt that the (y_n) in reader inserts interrupted the reading flow. I will try to do without it as much as I can and that's why I want Beau to give the reader a nickname.
> 
> I was thinking him calling her 'Doll' might flow best with his personality, we all know he won't be calling her 'Mama'.....
> 
> Let me know if that sounds like a good nickname for the reader???


	5. Lots of Thoughts

His dreams were always plagued by strange nightmares now, usually always about something happening to Carla and Beau not being able to help her.

He would be even smaller than he already was or would have lost his magic somehow or Carla would even just disappear and he would be left alone.

Left alone in this giant house that seemed so much bigger without her there.

Shadows would grow and come to life. They would grab at his clothes and bones. He would get dragged away into the deepest darkest parts of an empty void where he was trapped for what felt like forever.

Then he was usually rustled awake by a sleepy and worried looking Mr. Baker.

These nightmares were a harsh reminder of how much he had to depend on people and now even a painful reminder that his Mama was gone and wasn't ever going to come back.

He hated sleeping but he always felt so tired.

......

It was still dark when Beau opened his eyes again, a cold sweat covering his body, making his clothes feel sticky.

He had another nightmare. They came frequently since his Mama had left for the hospital.

It figures he would have them though. Not being able to be near the person who took care of him taxed his soul. It was even worse because he loved her so much.

Bittys craved attention and absolutely needed contact and interaction with other beings in order to maintain a healthy living. They could get this attention from being with one another sure, but most types of Bittys have a hard time taking care of themselves. 

But bittys that are able to have a strong connection to humans or normal monsters are usually much more healthy and are living to their fullest.

Beau put his elbows in his crossed knees and leaned into his hands.

He couldn't sleep anymore right now.

Maybe walking around the house until he felt exhausted would let him have a dreamless sleep for once...

He had walked around the second floor until he had paced it at least five times.

Sure he felt tired but the dream was still fresh in his memory.

Carla had felt colder than ever. Her eyes were white. She didn't turn to dust like monsters but her knew she was gone.

His hands shook and he was breathing hard. Surely there was a way to push this pain he felt out of his mind. He had done it so many times already, though it wasn't that he could stop it necessarily. He just sort of worked himself until he broke down like an old machine.

He would pass out from exhaustion and either have no dreams and wake up feeling sore or wake up in a cold sweat like he had tonight.

He grit his teeth and started walking again.

He spent quite a bit of time and energy climbing down all the stairs to get back to the first floor.

He didn't know why, but he felt a need to check on the new human in his home.

You were snoring lightly, an arm supporting your head against the couch with your hand up in the air. Your body was mostly on its side and a leg was hanging over the side of a cushion.

You looked immensely comfortable, like you could start drooling at any moment.

He sat cross legged on the coffee table watching your eyes move below your eyelids as you slept.

......

You looked so peaceful to him. He wondered what you were dreaming of and a spike of envy flooded his body that you could even sleep at all. 

Your souls light changed with you dream and he huffed a sigh.

It was plainly obvious that you had loved his Mama a great deal. Perhaps even close to or as much as he loved her himself, but it was effecting you differently. He was jealous of your ability to sleep so soundly.

He leaned back against a haphazardly closed pizza box and thought about the day he had had with you in his life.

It was had been a little hectic. When the box he was in that morning had opened and he found out it wasn't his Mama he never thought that he would meet someone like you.

Someone who seemed to care about him without having even met him before, let alone known of his existence if his assumption was correct, you had both been really surprised when the box was opened after all.

Since then you had only said kind things to him, even after he misbehaved and hurt you. 

His eyes trailed your face, looking at the bandaid that covered the scratch he caused. Other bandaids peeked out from your rolled up pants legs. 

His mind moved on to what you had said about treating him like a friend made his mouth twist up into a smile. He hadn't been doing that often and it surprised him each time it happens in your presence. 

He ghosted his boney fingers over his mouth before he decided that, even though he was scared and had about every bad thought of you abandoning him or dusting him, he was going to try and befriend you back. 

After all, he could see human souls and yours, though dimmed by grief and everything that had hurt you in your life time, was the most beautiful one he had ever seen. 

You were worth a chance and frankly he had been really lonely since his Mama left all that time ago. Besides being one hundred percent honest, it had felt really good to be held by you earlier in the day, even if it was only for a short moment before everything really went to shit.

In that moment he wanted more than anything to lay beside you on the couch, but he thought that it might make you mad.

He tapped his finger on his kneecap as he thought about his options. Risk it with getting close to you or wander until he dropped into another fitful sleep.

.........

Well, damn his nerves! You were out cold anyway, he could just teleport himself to the hallway and leave before you woke up.

Yeah, that was something he could totally do, there was absolutely no holes in his plan.

With his plan set in to motion he teleported to the couch and sat down beside you.

Then after testing the waters and seeing that you were out cold, climbed his way up and over your shoulder and on to your collarbone. He curled up on his side and closed his eye sockets.

He drifted away into dreamland in a matter of minutes with a invisible belly filled with pizza and his bones warmed by your body heat. 

It was the first night in a long time that he didn't have some sort of nightmare.

 

You wake up from light bothering your eyes. You give a small sigh, you should have shut the shutters last night.

Knowing you probably won't be able to fall asleep again you decide you should probably make breakfast.

You feel something shift against your collarbone. You freeze, panic flooding your body at the possibility of it being a big. 

You crane your neck and look down your nose. You are pleasantly surprised by Beau's presence and you let your body relax instantly. 

You ponder on when he must have gotten there but let the thought leave your mind, just happy that he was okay with getting that close to you.

It takes time but you manage to lift him off of you and onto a fluffy pillow without disturbing his sleep and then swiftly begin preparing for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?
> 
> Is this the progress we were all waiting for????
> 
> Lmao anyway, I almost didn't make my own deadline because I'm stupid and thought I had finished the chapter and started the next, I really only got ahead of myself... :/
> 
> Luckily I made it though! :D
> 
> As usual if you spot any mistakes let me know, I don't read through these that well and usually work on them when I can't sleep anyway so you help me clean up my sleep deprived messes! :P
> 
> Also it only took 5 chapters but we finally made it to the next day xD


	6. Going Famously

Beau woke up about two hours after you had. He was content in his half awake state and ready to roll over and go back to sleep when he realized he was sleeping on you still. He sat up straight ready to bolt before you woke up and then realize that he was in fact not asleep on your collarbone but a pillow?

He looked around very confused. He didn't dream he fell asleep on you did he? He looked around the room and saw that you weren't there at all. Upon closer inspection he saw that the mess from dinner had also been cleaned up and the smell of something cooking wafted through the air.

He became as red as a cherry bitty in embarrassment. You woke up before him and saw how he had so easily curled up to you.

He was very angry at himself for not getting up in time and for having the need to sleep beside you in the first place.

But.... You hadn't gotten angry about it? Surely had you have been mad about him sleeping with you, you would have yelled at him and told him he was stupid for thinking you would let him do so after shouting at you about not being his owner and all that tantrum throwing he had done...

He almost wanted to cry in relief when he heard you singing loudly from the kitchen. He got up, teleported and ran until he got to just outside the door to the kitchen where he was able to peak in at you.

You were dancing to a song on your portable radio, singing along to the lyrics as you flipped a pancake over in the pan you were holding. You were already dressed for the day in a pair of comfortable jeans and a lose t-shirt with your hair back in a ponytail, a perfect moving outfit.

You stopped your personal concert when you saw him from the corner of your eye and you smiled before talking. 

"Breakfast is almost ready Beau, I bet you'll just LOVE pancakes!"

He jumped but then gave a crooked smile, happy to see you weren't in fact angry at him and stepped into the kitchen.

When he got close enough to you you squated down and held out your hand for him to climb on. He stepped into your palm and held your thumb for balance as you stood back up again. He expected you to put him on the counter but you surprised him by lifting your hand up to your shoulder.

He looked up at your face and your smile faultered. 

"Do you... not want to sit up here? I just thought since you had slept with me last night that-"

Your words soon turned into a hurried mess as Beau's cheekbones tinted red. He was happy to see he wasn't the only one who got anxious about being around the other.

You were using your free hand to scratch at the back of the one holding him.

He found that you seemed to do that a lot. Given all the scratch marks on the backs of both of your hands. He gave a thoughtful frown at that.

He waved his small arms at you to get you to stop and once you looked back at him he quickly tried to reassure you.

"Listen doll, I totally don't mind but I just thought maybe you were doing it for my sake rather than because you wanted me too, especially after last night and all..."

The room fell into an unbearable silence.

"...Doll?"

There was another beat of silence.

........

You had never seen a cherry turn so red before.

He was gone from your hand in an instant and you instantly felt worried before you felt his weight on your shoulder.

His boney fingers were twisted into your ponytail and he buried his face in the softness of your hair to hide from you.

You were happy that he didn't actually run from you this time. This was a true sign of progress between you two.

He mumbled through your tangled locks, "It's just... I thought it might be a good nickname...."

He trailed off and stuffed his head deeper and you did your best not to laugh at how absolutely precious you were seeing him be at that moment.

"Doll is fine with me, Beau." You reply happily. 

He peaks up at your face from behind your hair.

"Actually," Your mind flutters into a nice memory of you and your aunt when you were a child and you smile lightly.

"Aunt Carla used to call me her "little dolly" when I was a kid..."

Beau can't help but notice the look in your eyes seems so distance.

The silence is back, but not for long once both of you smell the burning pancake.

"OHHH!" You quickly flip it onto a plate. ".... guess this one is getting trashed..." 

You sigh and then chuck it from where you're standing, throwing your fist in the air when it makes it into the can on your first try.

Beau simply shakes his head at your behavior.

The two of you share some light chatter as you finish up preparing breakfast. Once it's done you take two plates of the stuff into the sitting room you are in the day before.

Beau was absolutely delighted by the tiny pancakes you had made for him and not at all to your surprise he devowered them in a short amount of time.

"So, Doll..." He paused for a moment to see if the nickname really didn't bother you or cause you to react how you had before. "What are the plans for today?"

You clapped your hands together excitedly trying to express yourself through your mouthful of food. 

After hurriedly swallowing and taking in a deep breath you finally answer.

"Today is going to be a bit of a work out! Some movers are going to be here soon with the rest of my stuff. It isn't much, but I'm still going to have to figure out where to put it, though I have some ideas."

Beau opened his mouth to respond but before he could get more than a syllable out there was a knock on the door.

You get to your feet quickly, "Talk about timing, right?" You get to your feet and shout towards the door "Just a sec!"

You pick yours and Beau's plates up to drop off into the kitchen before you race off to answer the door. Just as you're about to open the door you feel Beau teleport onto your shoulder.

It doesn't take long for the movers to bring everything into the house for you and you don't have them stick around for your interior decorating because nothing is actually too heavy for you to lift on your own. 

You wave goodbye to them after tiping VERY well and then close the door.

You sigh as you look at all your stuff that has amassed into a messy pile just in the foyer. What you hadn't been able to bring with you on the plane ride wasn't much. It mostly consisted of art supplies you had collected over the years during art school and after. The rest was in two or three other boxes which were mostly clothing and sentimental things like your old family photo albums. You had donated all of your old furniture.

You put your hands on your hips and look to Beau.

"Do you have any ideas where I should store some of this stuff around the house?"

He plays with your hair as he thinks before shaking his head.

"To be honest I don't really know the house that well-"

He trailed off as he looked at your opened mouth stare.

"You need a tour!"

He jumped at your outburst and then gripped your hair tighter as you sped walked out of the room.

"You've seen the sitting room and the kitchen. I should point out some other things in the first floor before we head up stairs. Maybe later this afternoon or tomorrow I'll show you around outside."

The tour ended up being pretty quick, which surprised Beau considering you bothered to show him everything including every closet in the house, the library, your aunts old study. Basically all the rooms including ones you were sure he had been in before and it ended in your room. 

You plopped on your bed and let Beau climb on your desk to get a good look around.

"I know the house is pretty big, but hopefully the tour will keep you from getting lost."

He gives you a small grin. "The house is really big, thank you for showing me around. I'm stoked to finally see it all." His face was pink from his shy happiness and you did your best not to make your smile about it too obvious.

"I still don't know where you could set up your art stuff though..."

You chew the inside of your cheek in thought before you get your best idea of the day, a lightbulb practically popping out of your head.

"Ah! I know just the place!"

Beau was starting to get used to your outburst of excitement and found them rather endearing, though you still startled him when they caused you to yell. 

He sat in your hand and placed his own boney one onto your thumb like usual as you set out of you room, up to the third floor and down the hall.

"There!" You excitedly pointed to a thin rope with a ball at the end of it dangling from the ceiling.

Beau tilted his head to the side.

You stood on your tippy toes but still couldn't quiet reach it.

You let out a frustrated grunt and set Beau on a small table by a mirror. You then jumped and grabbed the rope on your first try. You let out a triumphant sound as the ceiling pulled open and a ladder unfolded itself for you to climb.

Beau was stunned.

You looked at him and pointed to the ladder this time. "Welcome to the attic!"

Beau teleported to the top step of the ladder and you weren't far behind, clambering up the creaky rungs with a quick pace. You quickly pull another string once you stand up and an extremely dim lightbulb lights up a bit of the room.

At first glance the attic didn't look at all inviting. It was dark inside, there was an old mannequin stood in a corner that looked to be staring directly at the entrance, boxes were stacked taller than your head and there was a lot of old furniture covered by sheets all over. Not to mention the dirt, spider webs and the musty smell of it all.

"You... want to keep your stuff up here? Don't you use most of it pretty often?"

You nod your head and smile back at his small form. "I do use it a lot, but I don't want to just store it up here."

You gesture to the room.

"I want to make it my new studio space!"

Beau grimaced and looked to you. He raised a brow bone at your undeterred expression as you stood straight beside him.

"Really? That sounds... dumb" He squeaked out. He was always nervous that he would say something that upset you, but this really seemed like a stupid idea to him so he couldn't help himself. 

The attic was dirty, it smelled weird and over all it just gave off an eerie feeling.

You rock on your heels and walk into the mess on one side of the room without answering Beau's question.

Beau heard you shift through the storage space, knocking something over that sounded like glass and heard you let out a small curse. He let out a laugh at that; then there was a rustling sound and suddenly there was more light in the room. 

Then you came back and walked to the other end of the room. You grabbed the end of a long sheet and pulled. More light fills the room as you revealed a pretty window.

Dust danced across the sun beams and you smiled at Beau.

He was gawking, the room didn't look nearly as scary anymore. It actually seemed far more pleasant. 

"It'll take a lot of fixing up and a bunch of cleaning but I think I can make it work! It's bigger than my old studio anyway and that doubled as my apartment..." 

You throw the sheet to the floor and dust off your hands.

"I've always wanted to make the attic into a cool hide out or something since I was about eight years old. Now's my chance!"

You were smiling so wide Beau believed you would be able to make whatever vision you had in your head a reality.

Beau gave you a crooked grin.

"Then let's get to work!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than any other one so far! :O
> 
> I feel maybe like I'm rushing their relationship a bit too quickly... I'm not sure, what do you guys think?
> 
> I also maybe had the idea of doing a drawing of Beau so y'all can see what he looks like, that is, if you guys are interested? >.>
> 
> Let me know if you see any Typos ;D


	7. Making plans

Beau sat on your shoulder while you sat at your desk as you drew out a couple of fast sketches of how you could possibly organize the attic space.

Most of the early day had been spent clearing out boxes from the room and pushing the old furniture to one side to be able to dust and scrub away the years of dirt and grime that had built up. 

Beau hadn't been able to help much given his small stature but he did his best and kept you entertained throughout the process. 

Both of you were now completely covered in dirt though. 

You gave a yawn as you scratched at the back of you head. "How about some dinner?"

Beau nodded enthusiastically having just noticed that you both skipped lunch at your mention of food. 

You thought hard on the matter of what to eat and realized once again that the house didn't have any food in it.

You sat back in your chair and blew a raspberry. "I just realized that there's nothing but pizza in the house..."

Beau shrugged his shoulders as he twisted some of your hair in his fist. "That stuff was good, I don't mind eatin' it again."

You gave a tired smile, "glad to hear it, guess we could grab that mustard for you to dip it in too if you want?"

He was practically drooling at the thought as he nodded vigorously.

You gave a laugh as you got up.

The two of you ate in amicable silence, Beau dipping his small cut up pieces of pizza in his mustard and you chewed slowly as you thought on your mental to-do list.

A thought popped into your head and you raised your fists in the air excitedly, working your jaw quickly to chew in order to talk.

Beau watched you in amusement, finding all your odd quirks rather cute.

"I just realized I have a car now!"

Beau tilted his head in confusion, "Shouldn't you already know that you have one?"

You gave out a sheepish laugh as you got up to grab the big yellow envelope from where you had left it the day before.

You plopped it on the coffee table next to your plate as you shuffled through the pages until you found the long, multi-paged list your aunts lawyer had given you on the items you now owned.

You set the paper down near Beau and pointed with a greasy finger at the words 'One light blue 1976 Cadillac DeVille'.

"Aunt Carla's had this car since the year it came out and always kept it in mint condition and never looked into buying another car. I'm not sure why she did, but I always thought it was a pretty nice car."

Beau stood from his seat on his plates lip and stepped towards the paper work you were showing him.

"What is all this stuff?"

You pursed your lips and then did a slow flip through the pages with your fingers at the edge.

"Aunt Carla left me in her will as her heir. It means that legally I own all her stuff now that she's passed away."

You look up at him with a small apologetic smile, "That's why Mr. Baker told you I was your owner. Your adoption certificate is under my name now..."

Beau gave a slow nod in understanding as he surveyed the papers in front of the both of you.

"Wow, I didn't even know Mama owned so much stuff." He wiped some mustard and pizza sauce from his face onto a small piece of paper towel you ripped for him.

"How much land is in an acre?"

You scrunched your face, "like a fourth of a mile or something like that?," is your noncommittal reply, math was never your strong suit.

Beau gave out a thinking hum at the amount listed on the paper.

"If you think that's a lot you should take a look at Carla's savings."

You flipped to the front of the packet as it had been one of the first things listed. 

Beau gave a low whistle at that. "That's a lot of zeros."

"Your telling me, I spent all my savings to get out here before the paperwork was finalized."

Beau looked up at you thoughtfully. "You aren't like the rest of Mama's family. You don't dress fancy all the time and you ain't snooty like them neither."

You let out a loud unrestrained laugh at that with a little snort at the end. "Yeah no. It isn't really a money thing with me like it is with them."

You shift on the couch as you think back on your family.

"My dad used to make pretty decent money like the rest of my family but even when we had money we were never really like them. When my dad passed away it was just me and my mom and my mom well, she was a stay at home mom until he died. Once he was gone she started working. Eventually my mom got tired of how the rest of the family treated us with her not being related by blood and all and took a better job on the other side of the country."

" That's how I ended up not being able to come see aunt Carla anymore. My mom and I never liked taking money from her so we turned down her offers to fly us out and have family get togethers. Now I kind of wish we didn't though...."

Your gaze had shifted to a window during your spiel and your lip trembled at the missed opportunities you were thinking about.

Beau's eyes watered at your sad expression and he gave an inaudible sigh at the pain he could practically feel coming off of you in waves. 

He could with out a doubt tell you missed her as much as he did.

He wiped at his eyes quickly before clearing his throat to get your attention again. 

"So, you were living with your mom before you moved out here?"

You gave a watery chuckle at that and shook your head slightly, quickly patting at your teary eyes to keep the wetness away.

"My mom passed away a couple of years ago..."

Beau's face flushed red with shame at making the moment worse. "...sorry..."

You wiped at your eyes until they stopped watering and then cleared your throat in order to get rid of the sticky feeling sadness stuck in it along with trying to rid the room of an awkward silence.

"Um, anyway. I was thinking we could go grab the car keys from Mr. Baker later and take a look at old blue. That way we can go buy stuff for the house tomorrow."

Beau gave a shy nod and the two of you spent the rest of dinner in a heavy silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am shitty at updating, I warned you.
> 
> A whole 6 months wow.
> 
> I know excuses are shitty but I had a pretty awful summer and so far it's adding up to a pretty awful year.
> 
> Hopefully my luck will turn around now though, keep your fingers crossed for me!
> 
> Anyway sorry about the huge gap in updates and I totally am not keeping my promise about weekly updates anymore but I want you all to know I haven't given up in this fic yet!
> 
> Edit: I've been doing a lot of thinking on where I want this story to go and most of my ideas are rather graphic. 
> 
> I honestly want to know if you guys are cool with it going pretty dang dark? Because I'm pretty sure I would have to give it a mature rating....
> 
> I mean I could probably get away with keeping the teen and up rating but ehh
> 
> This may jist be fair warning for the future


	8. A new face

After finishing dinner you quickly clean up the mess the two of you made and put the leftovers into the fridge once more.

Beau is sitting on your shoulder again with a hand in your hair, which is very quickly and obviously becoming his favorite spot to be, as you exit the house into the chilling early evening air. 

The year is twisting from late summer into early fall and as it's leaving it's pushing a cooler temperature into its place.

You give a little shiver but shrug it off as you don't feel like climbing any stairs to go find a sweater and head off towards Mr. Baker's house.

It isn't by any means close to the house but it isn't a far walk either. By the time you reach his front porch the sun has gone down all the way and you have resorted to using your phone's flashlight to light the path in front of you.

With a quick jog up the front steps you're in front of the door and you give two short knocks, pretty excited to see your older friend. You turn off your light now that you are under the porch light as you wait.

Much to your surprise a younger man answers the front door. He has dark brown hair and bright green eyes. His eyes and the freckles across his nose really pop against his pale complexion. He's dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a stained grey T- shirt. 

He tilts his head at you as he leans against the open door but doesn't say a word as he looks at your face, his gaze shifting between your eyes slowly. It feels almost as if he's staring into your very soul.

You take a step back from the doorway to stay out of this strangers personal bubble and expand your own. You wring your hands as you clear your throat.

"Is Mr. Baker in?"

He visibly startles at your words or perhaps it's the sound of your voice, but then nods his head quickly. 

"Just a sec, I'll go get him." 

His voices is rough though you can't tell if it's from disuse or just because it's deep.

You shake the thought away and wait as he closes the door.

Beau's face twists sourly from the interaction. The human's soul was a strange brownish- orange color he'd never seen before. He felt unsettled not knowing what kind of person the man was and he hadn't shown much in the way of his personality either.

Beau unconsciously clung tighter to your hair in an almost protective manner.

You looked at him questioningly from the corner of your eye but brushed it off as Mr. Baker swung the door open with a bright smile.

He eased up in the presence of Mr. Bakers familiar, pleasant light green soul. And gave a shy smile.

"Well hello there you two!" Mr.  
Baker greeted kindly. He takes note of the darkness outside and raises a grey eyebrow at You curiously, "You aren't having any house troubles are you now, miss?"

You shake your head with a smile. "Everything's just fine Mr.Baker, I was just stopping by to ask about a couple keys."

Mr.Baker's mouth forms an o. "Now that makes some sense. Which keys were you looking for?"

"For now just the car keys to old blue and the password to the garage, I can't remember it."

He nods and then gestures for you to follow him into the house. He leads you into the living room, which has a nice homey feeling to it, the interior looking much like a cabin home.

You take a seat on a deep green couch and lock yours fingers together as you lean on your knees.

Mr. Baker shuffles over to a small set of drawers in a cabniet and grabs his over-flowing key ring. The infamous key ring that holds every key to anything with a lock on it on the property, which is now even fuller as it has all the copies of keys that your aunt used to lug around on it too.

He takes more than a few keys off of it and puts them on their own ring for you and then puts the whole thing on a d- clip. He then scribbles a few numbers onto a paper from a notebook before tearing it out.

He walks to you and hands them to you pointing out that each key has a little piece of tape on them with what they go to written on it.

"I felt like I should just give you all of Carla's keys so you don't have to keep making the trip out over here, especially at night. "

He gives a reprimanding look to you at the last part of his statement. 

You grin up at him in thanks.

"Im sure Beau here will help keep me safe," you poke at his foot lightly with one finger and he kicks at it playfully, "Besides, you're the only other person all the way out here, er well..."

You look around the house to find that the man you'd seen before is no where to be found.

"You and whoever answered the door earlier."

"Oh, that's right you didn't know." Mr. Baker takes a seat next to you on the couch and you turn towards him for your conversation. 

"That was my grandson, Lucas. He's a shy boy, don't talk much. Don't pay his silence any mind."

He adjusts his suspenders and takes a deep breath.

"He was having some problems back home and his mother thought it be best to send him out here with me a while. He's been helping me take care of the place for a little more than five years now."

Your eyebrows raised, you were a bit surprised by this bit of information, sure you hadn't been around more years than that but you thought it would be something your aunt would mention in a letter.

You shrug it off but then realize something important that may be the reason that this is news to you. 

"Has Lucas been getting paid to work here?"

Mr. Baker gives a noncommittal shrug.

"I give him money, sure, but I didn't want to bug Miss Carla with it none. She was already nice enough to let me keep this house for family uses and such all these years. I felt like asking for that would be a bit much you know."

You give Mr. Baker a determined look and give his arm a quick pat. "You don't have to worry about that kind of thing anymore Mr. Baker. I want you to know you can talk to me about anything like that, all right?"

Mr. Baker gives an unsure nod.

"I'm going to do my best to run all aunt Carla's responsibilities right, starting with giving your grandson a working wage!"

Mr. Baker startled at that, "Oh you don't have to do that on my account mi-"

You cut him off. "No I insist, I'm sure your grandson has done a lot for this place in all those years, it's the least I can do, especially with all you've ever done for me and my family."

Mr. Baker looked at you with admiration, "Well then, that's very kind of you to do Miss. Thank you kindly."

You give Mr. Baker a big smile.

You jingle the keys as you walk back toward your own home, your phone lighting the dirt road ahead of you.

Beau looks at you with a small smile, "That was real nice of you t' do that, doll."

You give a little shrug, careful to keep from jostling Beau too much on his perch.

"Just felt like the right thing to do."

Beau's smile stayed on his face as he reflected on the past conversation, resting his head against the length of your neck.

Sure you weren't his Mama, but you were definitely a human he could get used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was my birthday so take this week's second chapter as a gift from me!
> 
> Please feel free to tell me how you feel about all these ocs I keep introducing c:
> 
> Also let me know if you see any mistakes~


	9. Old blue

You meticulously read through the key labels until you find the both the key to the inside door to the garage as well as old blue's key. 

Just like all the rooms in the house a thick layer of dust coated the garage and you have a small cough from the partials you disturbed floating into your face.

Waving a hand to clear some air you use the other to turn on the rooms light. Only for half of it to blink on, you give a little frown and add one of those long weird light bulbs onto your mental shopping list.

You and Beau take in the sight of the room, it being much the same as you remember it. There are a couple of shelves that have car parts and needs on them as well as a small tool box in the corner for any house repairs your aunt used to be able to make on her own.

Besides the clutter in the room is old blue sat center stage in the middle of the room looking much like a ghost car under her protective car tarp.

You clap your hands together in excitement and bounce over to her. You carefully tug away the sheeting until the pristine car comes into view. Then gesture with your hand towards the car.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I would have preferred it red." 

You can tell from Beau's grin that he's only joking and give a chuckle in response.

"First thing tomorrow we can take old blue into the closest town and buy some much needed things like food."

"Only food?"

You put your hands on your hips. "We need some other stuff too, like light bulbs and tape, you know stuff you should just have on hand."

Beau gave an understanding nod. "Sounds like we'll be busy then."

You nod absentmindedly, "plus anything you want to get."

Beau raises a brow bone at that. He turns his head to look at your profile, thinking he miss heard you.

"...What?"

You're still ticking things on your mental list and don't bother to look at Beau as you respond. 

"What ever you want to buy. You know, clothes, toys, cool junk. Oh, I was thinking we could even build you a little house if your want. I mean it would probably take a while because I'd want it to be really nice and cosy for you but it would still 've fun to start buying stuff to make it tomorrow."

Beau cut you off before you could start telling a speech about what you hoped to do for him by rapidly patting at your neck until he caught you attention.

"You know you don't have to do any of that right? Don't waste your money on me."

You were taken aback by his words. Giving a peeved grimace at him. 

Without a word you held your hand up at shoulder level for him to walk onto.

Beau nervously stepped from your should to your hand, obeying silently as this is the angriest he's ever seen you.

Once he's in you palm you raise him up to be able to look into you eyes as you speak.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully Beau,"

He nods slowly as he looks into your eyes obediently.

"You're my responsibility now and I need you to understand that I will spoil you just as much as I damn well please!"

You expression quickly smooths back into a calm one.

"Besides, I have more money now than I'll ever know what to do with on my own, so why shouldn't you be allowed to get whatever you want?" 

You give him a cheerful smile as you watch his face shift from tight lipped frown into a look of teary awe. 

You let out a squeak as Beau charges from your hand and does his version of a tackle hug that doesn't actually effect your stance.

You can nearly make out his thank you that's muffled by your shirt.

You give a bright grin at his reaction and pat him with your hand to return the hug to the best of your abilities.

Though you and Beau went in separate directions that night to go to bed and you woke up to him laying by your face on your pillow the next morning.

It made you start your day on a pretty high note. You got dressed and grabbed your shoulder bag of crap, other wise known as tour crap sack, that always included your keys, wallet, a sketchbook with some drawing supplys and whatever else you need to drag around with you when you leave the house. 

Once you got your shoes on you woke Beau up. He simply grumbled and rolled over when you called his name so you rubbed his boney cheek with the tip of your finger.

He sat up with his eyes closed and hunched forward. A giant yawn escaping his mouth showing off his pointed teeth.

You held back your squeal at his cuteness. 

"Good morning sweetness," you smile at the nickname thinking him roo tired to pay it any attention "ready for a day of shopping?"

Beau took a deep cleansing breath as he rubbed at his eye sockets. Once he rubbed at them enough he looked up at you blurrily.

You chuckle, "sleep well?"

He gave a heavy nod and motioned at you with grabby hands. You pick him up at his request and hold him close to tour chest. He snuggles in to the loose fabric of your zip hoodie's good and grasps at the closest pulley string. 

You shake your head at his cuteness and head straight to the garage, deciding to skip the add water only pancakes in favor of picking up doughnuts some where.

After unlocking the combination lock on the garage door and finding the remote for opening and closing said door you get in old blue; happily surprised to see that she still has more than enough gas in her to get to town.

Figuring it wouldn't be safe to hold Beau the whole time you set him on you knee in order to tie your jacket ties together.  
Once they were tied together you pulled your good close to you neck and then picked Beau up and placed him into your crooked hood.

He curled into a ball against your chest and yawned before drifting back to sleep. Some where in the back of his mind he realized that he hasn't had a nightmare since he started sleeping around you, even if it had only been a few days.

A relaxed smile appeared on his face.

You smile as you pull the car out of the drive way and off onto the dirt road towards town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School started this week and it has me shook lmao. I am too tired to read through the chapter so if there are mistakes sorry and feel free to tell me.
> 
> This is basically a filler chapter, I'm not even sorry. rip


	10. A familiar Place and a Familiar Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I'm back.

On your drive into town you realized that you wouldn't have enough room in your car to get everything you need and want in one trip. You decided that making a trip every few days would probably be a better way to get everything, not to mention not wanting to overwhelm Beau. Knowing that he hadn't even been in every room of the house before you came along you doubt he had ever been in a store besides his adoption center before. With this in mind you figured it would be best to only get nesecities today and then maybe stop in stores that interested your small friend. After all it's not like you've never been to the city before.

The city its self was a small town named Timber falls, this name being of course rather cheesy on account of the area originally being used to create lumber. Eventually those who fell the trees decided to settle down in the area and the town started forming, becoming more than just a lumber Jack hot spot. 

Your aunt had told you all about the town as you were growing up. She shared her knowledge of how the town formed before she was born and what it was like to grow up in a place that did it's best to keep it's feet beneath itself. 

Your smile felt tight as you drove past familiar buildings, like the malt shop your aunt and you would share milkshakes from and the old gas station where you'd always buy snacks for movie nights. 

You were a bit surprised to see a few places had been closed and even replaced by new buildings and businesses. There were even a few stores that you'd see in the average urban city. 

The town, though a bit bigger since you last seen it, had an air of modernism that it didn't have when you were a child. Despite that there was still the classic feeling of an old country town that you were familiar with which combines into a strange amalgamation that you could actually see yourself getting used to.

You pull to a stop and park your car outside a grocery store you hadn't visited in over eight years. A sigh escaping your mouth as you see the old paint had been renewed but still had the same classic sign that read mercantile.

Hearing the engine cut out had been enough to finally stir Beau out of his car nap. He sat up in the fold of your hoodie and rubbed at his eyesockets with both hands.

He blinked up at your melancholic face and then stared out the window. His eyebrow bones raising as he took in the scenery.

"This place is... interesting?"

You jump a bit at the sound of his voice, having been lost in your own thoughts. You look down at him with a knowing smile. 

"Nothing you're used to?"

He shakes his head with a crooked smile. 

" 'fraid not, compared to our house this place looks like somethin' out of an old western movie."

You snort at that, though feel your heart sore at his casual statement of your living arangements, glad to see you were becoming a part of his normal everyday life rather naturally.

You tap your hands against the wheel. "So, I've sort of got a plan for today." You reach for your bag as you speak, careful to not knock Beau from his cloth perch. 

"I don't think we would be able to visit every store we both need to and want to go to and be able to fit everything we'd end up buying back into the car... So, I was thinking we only get what we really should today and maybe visit a place or two that looks interesting and then just come back on another day. If that sounds okay to you?"

"Sounds good t' me, doll." Beau replied as he shifted in his sweater hammock so that his feet hung out the front and he could lean against your chest with his eyes closed. "Just make sure we actually get food in the house today"

You let out a full laugh at that. 

"That's actually where we are right now."

He blinks his eyes open at that. "Good," he nestled further into his seat, "glad you won't be scrabbling around the kitchen to feed us anymore."

You light heartedly roll your eyes at that, also relieved that you won't be forced to eat bland pancakes or pizza for another meal.

The trip through the store is rather uneventful. Besides grabing a ton of food, mostly items you want Beau to try and items that he confessed an interest in and filling the cart, you run into no problems.

At check out the man behind the counter seemed both surprised to see the large amount of items you were buying and to see You yourself. Though you didn't remember his name and had to use his nametag to clue you in you were also surprised to see someone you knew from when you were younger. 

The man, Wyatt as his nametag so helpfully let you remember, was a boy you had known back when you went to the local school. He had been three grades above you and you had been pretty good friends with his younger sister up until you were about twelve or thirteen.

You had always thought of Wyatt as an attractive boy and were pleasantly surprised to see that he had really grown into his looks over the years. His auburn colored hair was neatly brushed to the side and out of his face, his eyes the same soft forest green you remember them to be and his skin still just as covered in freckles as ever. He was dressed in casual clothes of a pair of worn jeans and a grey-blue long sleved t- shirt with an apron tied around his waist. Most notably he had beefed up since you'd last seen him and despite being in his late twenties his boyish grin remained unchanged.

You gave an only slightly awkward smile to the guy as he pointed finger guns at you while practically shouting your name. 

"I haven't seen you in forever! Glad to have you back in town." He began adding up your total with his ever present charming smile. 

"It's... Good to be back." You scratched at the back of your hands nervously, an action that Beau unbenouced to you continued to pick up on against your knowledge. "How are your folks?"

Wyatt glanced up at you from his work and smiled. "They're doing great, though the old man's been restless since he retired. I take care of the shop now instead and boy if he doesn't drive me crazy trying to pick apart how I run things."

He leaned against the counter to get closer to you, a sincere look crossing his features as his eyebrows furrow, "I'm real sorry about what happened with your aunt. I know that must of been hard for you..."

Your breathing hitched for just a second and your hands clutched together so tightly you could feel your skin nearly split.

Beau teared up at the thought of Carla and the distress released by your body and soul at the subject being brought up. 

A sharp whine escaping his throat catches your attention and snaps you out of your depressing thoughts. Though you've had so much more time than your small companion to grieve the thought of your aunt can still bring you to tears in a matter of seconds.

You bring your hands up to Beau in a sort of comforting hug and that finally draws Wyatt's attention to the bitty.

He arches an eyebrow but then seemed to have realized he put his own foot in his mouth with a still raw topic.

Back peddling he finishes adding the last few items up on the register. "Sorry..." once he realizes you most likely aren't going to comment on the subject he tries changing the subject and asks you, "Is your stay permanent or are you just visiting this old heap?"

That gets a tiny smile out of you. "Permanent. I'm living in the house now with Beau," you gesture to your tiny friend with one hand, gently stroking his spine with the thumb of your other. "We're trying to figure out what to do with some of the rooms and fix up some small issues around the place."

Wyatt nods to that and looks at Beau with a gentle smile seeing how relaxed his presence seems to make you. He reaches under the counter and pulls out a small tin, reaching inside he pulls out a cookie and holds it out as an offering to Beau. 

Beau seems surprised and looks up at you. He hesitantly takes the cookie after seeing your reassuring smile.

He munches slowly on the treat as he watches your social interaction with Wyatt continue.

Once Wyatt is done adding up your total you pay him the money and start grabbing for bags. 

Along with your change Wyatt hands you the receipt and a small piece of ripped paper with what you can only guess is his phone number. 

You look up at Wyatt with a confused expression.

He simply smiles with a quick shrug of his shoulders. "Just in case there's anything you guys need, I know Mr. Baker has most things covered on the property but if you need anything else or even just want to hang out, give me a call. That's my cell number but if I don't pick up just try the store number, I'm here most of the time anyway."

And your flustered, did he just wink or is your mind playing tricks on you? You give a genuine smile at Wyatt's kindness and nod to him, tucking the paper into a safe pocket of your bag.

After that Wyatt helps you bring what you bought to your car and then you wave happily at him as you pull away from your parking space.

As you head off to your next destination Beau can't help but notice you seem a little extra happy after your chat with Wyatt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys are back in town
> 
> I got a bit inspired to write again and well this chapter came pretty easily to me for some reason. It's also pretty dang long for one of my chapters.
> 
> As usual if you spot any mistakes just tell at me and I'll fix it. Hope everyone has been doing great.
> 
> As a side note I randomly picked a name off the top of my head for Wyatt and looked up to see what it meant afterwards and find it hilarious that it means strong after I said he was a beefcake lmao.


	11. Check it Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to be responsible

A quick drive around town and a Google search on your phone later let you know that there wasn't any bitty stores near you. Which also made you realize just how far away Beau actually came from. 

It was a couple hour drive to the nearest city that had an adoption center or a bitty supply store. You both decided it would be better to wait and go another day and it might be better to just order some things online when you got home.

The rest of the morning the two of you spent your time getting a few miscellaneous objects for around the house.

By the time you got back to the house it was almost noon. You pulled the car in front of the garage and as you were getting out to open up the garage door you noticed Mr. Baker on a riding mower on the opposite side of the house and his grandson raking leaves out of a flower bed a bit closer to the front door.

He seemed to notice you from where he was standing but looked away just as quickly when he saw that you were looking back. 

You shrugged it off but Beau glared at the man as you unlocked and open the garage door.

I think I'm going to want to make this door automatic so we won't have to get out of the car to get inside when it starts snowing..." You muttered as you got back in the car. 

Beau took a mental note to remind you of that later in case you forgot. He twisted his fingers in your sweater as you started taking bags into the house.

Once you had finished putting groceries away and had prepped a meal for lunch and shoved it in the oven you remembered seeing Lucas out front.

"Oh right!"

You ran to grab your bag and started fishing around for your wallet. Beau teleporting after you and standing next to your place at the counter.

"Um, what's wrong doll?"

"Well, remember how yesterday I told Me. Baker I'd be giving Lucas a paycheck too?"

Beau nodded his head slowly as you pulled up the calculator app on your cell phone.

You started writing out a check. "I just remembered he was outside right now so I figured I could give it to him now instead of waiting."

"Ah huh, but that seems like a lot more than what you would probably get per paycheck..."

You stand up straight and rip the check out of your checkbook. "He has been doing work here for a few years. I just thought that I should pay him for all the work he has already done instead of just starting to pay him for working here."

You look down at Beau. "That makes sense right?"

Beau gives a small nod. You hold your hand out for him to climb up onto and then place him into your shoulder.

After he's perched just right and had a fist full of your hair you set off to find an envelope. It doesn't take you long, they're still in the same place your aunt kept them in. You seal it and write Lucas' name on the front.

"Okay, time to go find our guy."

With a skip you start down the stairs and out the front door. You stop once you're on the porch and take a quick look around. 

When you don't spot Lucas anywhere you wave at Mr. Baker who is now mowing the front lawn. He waves back to you with a big smile and comes to a stop in the middle of a turn.

You jog up to him with your own smile.

"Good afternoon, dear! Been busy today? I wasn't even aware you two left today until I saw you coming back up the road from town."

"Just did a little shopping, got some stuff for around the house. Would you mind telling me where Lucas went?"

Mr. Baker looks surprised but gives you a smile and gestures to the house. "He's around back, told me he was going to the garden."

"Thank you!" You say enthusiastically as you jog away.

Beau waves at Mr. Baker over your shoulder as you turn away and is pleasantly surprised as Mr. Baker waves back with a friendly smile.

As you round the side of the house Beau lets out a gasp at the sight in front of the both of you. The garden is absolutely as breath taking as you remember it to be. You stop to take a good look at your surroundings.

The brick pathway that leads around the garden area is swept clean, the numerous rose bushes of every color are trimmed to perfection, a long with all the other types of bushes. Some are even cut into fun shapes like pyramids, two that grow just past the back porch on either side are cut into spirals. Vines snake and weave around the pillars that support the covered patio. 

The hedge maze that you always got lost in as a small child remains the same, the leaves trimmed back to make precise edges. A few fruit and nut trees surround the maze and from where you stand the beautiful willow tree that grows at the center of the maze can be seen over the hedges. 

You find Lucas meticulously trimming back the leaves of a small rose bush just outside the maze. You walk towards him with a determined smile on your face. Beau, once he realizes you're walking towards Lucas, braces himself for another strange interaction with the man.

"Hi Lucas." You say as you approach him from behind.

He startles so terribly that he almost drops the hand shears he's holding. He turns to you quickly with almost a look of terror on his face and then points to himself as if to say 'Me?'.

You rub at your neck with your free hand awkwardly and give a nod in greeting.

"Your grandpa said you'd be back here. I uh, had a conversation with Mr. Baker about you working here, on the property, last night..."

Lucas looks a little scared, thinking that you didn't want him here. If you sent him away he would have no where else to go.

His hands tighten on the tool he's holding, an act that doesn't go unnoticed by Beau. Beau tightens his hold in your hair but you don't seem to notice.

Lucas gives a nod his gaze not meeting yours and his mouth in a tight line.

"Well, I let him know that I would be paying you from here on out," you thrust the hand holding the envelope out towards him, "I hope this makes up for all the work you've done since you moved out here."

Lucas is puzzled, his eyes going from your face to your hand more than once. He hesitates but eventually takes the envelope from your hand. 

He looks to you again after seeing his name scrawled across the front. You give an encouraging nod to him and a smAll gesture with your hand that it's okay for him to open it.

He looks from you to Beau one last time before pulling a pocket knife from his jeans. Beau shivers as Lucas flips the knife open and then uses it to open the envelope.

Lucas' eyebrows raise and his eyes widen as he sees the check. He quickly looks to you and almost looks like he's at a loss for words, has mouth half open and working as if speaking with no sound.

"I just thought it would be fair to um- since you've worked here so long and all, maybe, give you... back pay? To make up for not being paid at all that is and uh, a bonus for doing so much with my aunt being sick and all."

Lucas nods to you slowly and puts the check back in the envelope. 

"...Thank you..."

The words are so quiet you almost don't catch them, but once you process what he says you smile.

You wait but he doesn't say anything else and you aren't sure how to continue the conversation. After a few moments you pat your thighs as if finalizing your short chat.

"Well we'll get out of your hair, enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again for all the work you do."

You give a tiny quick wave as you turn and head towards the maze.

Beau looks behind you over your shoulder as you walk to keep an eye on Lucas. 

Lucas' eyes never leaving you as you escape into the hedge maze. He raises the envelope to his chest and clutches it against himself, a small smile curling his chapped lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the deal...
> 
> I feel bad about not posting very often and i still like this story so I decided I should try and have a chapter out every month. Right now I'm trying to catch up to how many months it's already been out...
> 
> I have another chapter finished that I'll post in a few days. But idk if I'll be able to catch up super fast now.
> 
> I sliced my hand open earlier today and have lost the use of a thumb for at least a week.... :I


	12. Secret Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some sad and I'm not sorry?
> 
> I mean, I warned you, didn't I?

As soon as you feel you're a good distance away from the entrance to the maze you stop and take a deep breath. Beau looks up at you worriedly and pats your collarbone.

"You okay, Doll?"

You sigh and nod your head quickly scratching at your hands hurriedly.

"Y- yeah, I'm okay. It's just, I'm already not good at talking with people I don't know very well and well, when they aren't good at talking too it's a lot harder an- "

"Woah, woah, slow down Doll, it's okay." Beau cuts you off waving his hands dismissively. "I think you did really well back there with that weirdo and all."

You let the weirdo comment slide, after all you want Beau to be more comfortable being himself, what with him being an edgy and all. Besides you kind of, maybe a little, agree with him.

You rub at your hands slowly and make a face before looking back at him.

"...You really think so?"

Beau nods and sends a smile your way. "Course, I wouldn't lie to you. 'Sides, he seemed... happy?"

He says, his statement trailing off into a question. 

You snort loudly at that and that earns you a smug grin from Beau who crossed his arms for a moment.

"Where we heading to anyway? We did just put lunch in the oven after all."

You smile, your last social interaction already falling to the back of your mind.

"I figured I could show you the maze, it's actually really awesome. There's even a surprise in the middle. Besides I know this place like the back of my hand still annnd there's another exit so we won't have to face Lucas after all that again right away."

Beau laughs at that and you pretend you don't hear anything as you walk further into the maze, taking turns in the appropriate places.

Beau just can't keep his surprise hidden. His jaw drops as you two enter the space in the middle of the maze. In the center there is quite the spread. This maze being a place you and your aunt often hung out in when you didn't feel like being inside and didn't feel like taking a walk on the property. 

Though now the entire center is overgrown from the grass under your feet to the walls of the maze itself. 

To the side the old willow tree stands tall, its branches swaying in the light breeze almost grazing the ground with each pass. Beneath the branches you can spot two lawn chairs laying in the shade, the plastic of them sunbaked into a lighter pinkish color and leaves scattered over them, a small table sits between them its glass fogged with disuse and the remains of the last rain.

To the right of the tree rests an old wooden gazebo painted white, the paint is starting to chip away. The floor is absolutely dust covered. The porch swing that rests almost in the middle of the gazebo is also dirty and chipping paint. 

Almost the rest of the area in the clearing is taken up by a small shead about the size of a closet and a large fenced in area where you and your aunt used to plant a garden every spring. It's now overflowing with weeds.

Beau is in awe of the fact that this little secret hideaway exists here just in the backyard of your very home.

"Not gonna lie, this place is really cool, but it's also kinda freaky..."

He's snapped out of his admiring when he feels your shoulder jerk, a sniffle escaping you.

He looks up to see your lip quivering and tears starting to slip from your eyes. And just like that he's at a loss of what to do.

You give a shaky exhale.

"...This place is so... unkempt."

Beau suddenly feels angry, this place obviously means a lot to you and yet Mr. Baker and that creepy Lucas guy didn't clean it up even after knowing you would be coming back to the house.

"The rest of this yard is always kept so clean, why isn't this place too! In fact, shouldn't this area have been kept up the entire time, it doesn't look like it's been cleaned in years!"

You wipe your face on your sleeve and sniff hard to keep yourself from leaking snot.

"That's because it hasn't, aunt Carla always insisted on keeping this part of the garden clean herself."

Beau snaps his mouth shut and is almost instantly in tears along side you. This place serving as a reminder both of how little Beau really knew about his momma's or your past and how much of a toll Carla's sickness took on her and what she loved.

He furiously wipes at his eyes with his jacket sleeves as you continue reminiscing. 

"We used to have picnics out here all the time when I was younger. Sometimes my mom joined us when she wasn't busy... We planted stuff in the garden every year and used it for dinner and stuff."

You twist your fingers as you think back on memories of your aunt.

"She made and grew everything in the center of the maze herself, well kinda. Her and my uncle Dan did. I never met uncle Daniel, he passed away before I was born but aunt Carla really loved to talk about him."

Beau remembered her talking about him too, she loved telling long stories about their life together. On some of her worse nights he recalled her calling out to him in her sleep.

He took a hard swallow and looked back out to the area as you continued talking.

"She was really happy when I turned about four or five because I was finally old enough to really start gardening with her."

You trail off as you think on the past, wiping a tear from your cheek, sad that this place is lacking so much when it comes to care.

Beau furrowed his brow in determination. 

"Well, we have a lot of work ahead of us don't we?"

You blink quickly and look down at your companion who stares right back at you with kind eyes.

You almost feel like crying again and let out a quiet laugh. You sniff again and do your best to hug your tiny friend. His tiny arms reaching around your neck as best as they can.

"Yeah, we really do, don't we?"

After a few minutes of silence you let up on your hug. He gives your neck a few quick pats and then settles back into his seat on your shoulder.

You walk towards the gazebo.

"We even used to come and sit out here when it rained."

You walk up the steps and they squeak in protest at your weight. You turn and lean against the railing and look out towards the tree and the garden lot.

Beau teleported onto the hand rail next to your crossed arms and takes a seat with his feet dangling off the side. 

"What do you want to plant next spring?" You ask looking down at your friend and leaning your face into the palm of one of your hands.

Beau looks at you and then looks really focused for a moment out at the garden area. 

"Strawberries." He says in almost to serious a voice.

You snort a little at his attitude.

He looks back up at you, "I've always wanted to try strawberries."

You're taken aback by his phrasing, it always seems to slip your mind that he hasn't had the best of lives technically.

Your smile turns more sincere. "Sounds like a plan buddy."

You spend the next few moments in silence together, just enjoying the cool breeze against your faces and watching the leaves fall from the willow tree and catch in the wind.

You stand up straight and stretch your back with a groan.

"Alright, guess we should be headi-"

Suddenly the board beneath you snaps under you weight and you fall backwards.

Beau whips around but by the time he's standing up you're already laying on the floor of the gazebo. He quickly blinks from the railing to your sternum in a fraction of a second, his hands planted firmly before the dip of your collarbone.

"A- are you okay!?"

You give a loud groan, your eyes squeezed shut in pain. 

You sit up slowly saying 'Ow' like a mantra, rubbing at the back of your head to try and stave off the pain from where your skull met hardwood. Beau grips tightly onto your sweater to keep from falling off of you, his worried look never leaving his face.

"Ugh, I'm okay. I think?"

You open your eyes to look at Beau, then your eyes catch sight of your foot caught in the hole your body made. You hiss as you pull your leg free from the splintered floorboard.

Rolling up your pant leg you see that your ankle and shin is a bit red and scratched up but you don't seem to be seriously injured.

You sigh and lean back on to your hands before looking back at Beau.

"We really do have a lot of work to do around here..." 

"Yeah... No kidding."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just wanted to say I've been absolutely blown away by all of your kind comments! Honestly I didn't even know so many of you read these authors notes.
> 
> I just wanted to let you know I really appreciate it and my hand is already starting to feel better.
> 
> And most of all thank you for all your sweet words! ❤

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of warnings about this fic.  
> I haven't written anything since middle school so it might be crappy and if you spot any mistakes please let me know.  
> Secondly I'm not certain where I'll be taking this fic and updates will probably be pretty slow but I'll do my best.  
> Last by not least the rating might get changed as I update.


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